ROMARE

If you put it the wrong way, you can make something sound dry and academic, when actually it’s inspired by love. Archie Fairhurst, known as Romare, wears his love for all to see – in fact, he takes his very name from it. Having studied African American Visual Culture at University, he had his ‘Sex Pistols moment’ when he came across the work of Romare Bearden. The African American’s collaged, cut’n’paste artworks inspired the young musician to apply a similar technique to music – an approach that was hugely fruitful, and remains central to his work today. After stints as a drummer and guitarist throughout school and university, he moved to Paris where he picked up the turntables and began mixing his own music with samples from second hand records. Romare the musician was born and the template for his debut record. His new album "Love Songs: Part Two” shows Romare expanding, deepening and developing his techniques. Although sampling from vinyl still plays a key role in his practice, Fairhurst has played much more of the music on this new record, from monophonic synthesisers to his grandmother’s recorder and his dad’s mandolin, with electric bass, plus a variety of guitars and keyboards taking central roles, too. His sample sources have changed a little, too, moving from the jazz and blues which distinguished “Projections” to disco and psychedelic. Indeed, the increased demand for his work as a DJ has caused him to develop his structures, allowing for more sustained builds in intensity, both within individual ‘songs’ and across the album as a whole.